Wildest Dreams
Wildest Dreams is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her fifth studio album, 1989. The song was released to radio by Big Machine Records on August 31, 2015, as the album's fifth single. Swift co-wrote the song with its producers Max Martin and Shellback. Musically, "Wildest Dreams" is a ballad with a prominent dream pop influence, with the lyrics describing Swift's plea for her lover to remember her. The song received generally positive reviews from music critics, who compared it to the work of Lana Del Rey and commended its composition. Meanwhile, the music video directed by Joseph Kahn and filmed in the Serengeti National Park received a mixed reception. Following the release of 1989, it was met with moderate commercial successes, charting in the United States, Canada, and Australia on the strength of digital downloads. After its release as a single, it reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the fifth consecutive top-10 song from 1989 and Swift's 19th top-10 single on the chart. It also became her sixth chart topper on the Radio Songs chart. Later a remix by Dutch DJ R3hab was released digitally in October 11, 2015. Critical reception Sputnikmusic called the song an "impassioned piece" and even though the song was similar to Lana Del Rey, "all it really proves is that Swift is capable of taking the contemporary influences around her and molding them into something impressively original.". Corey Bealsey of PopMatters described it as " Swift doing more or less a literal Lana Del Rey impression and managing it with a ventriloquist’s mastery to conjure Del Rey’s moody, sultry atmospherics." Marah Eakin of The A.V. Club said that "Swift even takes her voice down a few notches, sounding a bit more like the brusque Del Rey than her chipper self." Alexis Petridis of The Guardian praised the Lana Del Rey influences, citing that "there’s something hugely cheering about the way Swift turns the persona of the pathetic female appendage snivelling over her bad-boy boyfriend on its head. Ramping up the melodrama by way of Be My Babyish drums, Wildest Dreams paints the man as the victim, doomed to spend the rest of his life haunted by what he’s carelessly lost." In a review by The New York Times, noted that this song contained the "most pronounced vocal tweak" on the album and how "at the bridge, she skips up an octave, sputtering out bleats of ecstasy, before retreating back under the covers." On the other hand, Craig Manning of AbsolutePunk dismissed the song as "a bit disposable". Jem Aswad of Billboard had a mixed reception about the Lana Del Rey similarities, saying that "it's hard to tell if the song is homage or parody." Chart performance "Wildest Dreams" first entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 76 on the week ending November 15, 2014 as a cut off from 1989. Following its release as an official single and the release of an accompanying music video at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards pre-show, the song re-entered the Hot 100 at number 15 on the chart dated September 19, 2015. It reached number 12 the following week, later peaking at number 5. It re-entered the Billboard Digital Songs chart at number 7 selling 83,000 copies (up 981% from its previous week sales). At the Billboard Radio Songs chart it debuted at number 26 with 43 million audience impression (up 114%). It climbed to the top position of the Radio Songs chart on the week ending November 14, 2015. On Billboard's Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, the single became her first number one on this chart.